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[GreatWyrmGold]

What about breeding new crops? Or breeding new animals (different breeds of dog, etc.)

Hey guys I think I've bred the perfect war beast for us! I crossed an owl and a bear, I call it an Owlb*RAAAAAAAAAWR*OHGODMYARMS!

Perhaps a giant eagle and a giant badger would be a better choice? "Beware the Giant Eaglebadger!"

Hm...Magical crossbreeding secret?
Requires a special workshop--maybe a ginormous corridor that two flaming spheres with the progenitors in them that hurtle toward each other, maybe three mystic circles, maybe mirrors; reagents would be charcoal and magical spices, or crushed gemstones, or a pane of crystal glass, or something; the created creature is a hybrid of the progenitors' bodies and abilities.
Procedurally generated hybrids sound awesome. Especially if one progenitor is a dwarf...

[Necro910]

What about breeding new crops? Or breeding new animals (different breeds of dog, etc.)

Hey guys I think I've bred the perfect war beast for us! I crossed an owl and a bear, I call it an Owlb*RAAAAAAAAAWR*OHGODMYARMS!

Perhaps a giant eagle and a giant badger would be a better choice? "Beware the Giant Eaglebadger!"

Hm...Magical crossbreeding secret?
Requires a special workshop--maybe a ginormous corridor that two flaming spheres with the progenitors in them that hurtle toward each other, maybe three mystic circles, maybe mirrors; reagents would be charcoal and magical spices, or crushed gemstones, or a pane of crystal glass, or something; the created creature is a hybrid of the progenitors' bodies and abilities.
Procedurally generated hybrids sound awesome. Especially if one progenitor is a dwarf...

Dwarf/GCS hybrid! Beware its deadly similarities! 

[ExdeathV]

The current concept of secrets involves them being passed by some entity(god, demon or something).
I see it like this:
-Build an altar for a dwarven god, pick a priest, give offerings(maybe as priests demands?), receive secret.
or in adventure mode
-find a goblin tower, do some quests for the demon guy leading them, , PROFIT!
I wonder if there will different levels of secrets in DF, like for example:
minor - how to make nicer beds!
major - how to breath fire!
Minors could be written down in to slabs, majors would be passed only verbally(though after thinking about it, an army of half dwarves half dragons would be epic ^^).

Or
-Build altar, send some sort of priest/priestess, give offering, arm is now replaced with a dog

[Putnam]

Hm...Magical crossbreeding secret?
Requires a special workshop--maybe a ginormous corridor that two flaming spheres with the progenitors in them that hurtle toward each other, maybe three mystic circles, maybe mirrors; reagents would be charcoal and magical spices, or crushed gemstones, or a pane of crystal glass, or something; the created creature is a hybrid of the progenitors' bodies and abilities.
Procedurally generated hybrids sound awesome. Especially if one progenitor is a dwarf...

Since I can't help but make the joke, considering the topic...

In 2011, GreatWyrmGold the Human learned the secret of Necromancy.

[Zyro]

The concept of secrets being passed by gods is good and all , but how's about random chancing and yet more fun?
1.Chance of tamed creatures breaking free if your dungeon keeper or animal tamer is of low skill level.
Fun indeed.
2.Magical items that are good at one thing but bad at another, caused by strange moods or if you discover something. ex: A enchanted crossbow named Stormkeeper which shoots small bolts of electricity that deal piercing and fire damage , along with knocking them a small distance away at the cost of making the wielder lose skills easier than normal and making them very weak towards actual damage.
3.Treasure, treasure is protected by skeletons or a single demon that do not turn hostile until you unforbid the chest , and may contain : Golden crafts, magical runes on slabs (That alow the making of minor magical items as in not the medieval equivelent of a laser gun as above),bottled experience (A designation will apear and you may select the dwarf to drink it , random skill in the enabled labors will be increased by one rating as long as it wouldn't go into legendary

),suits of armor , weapons , practical items,and the idiot(s) miner(s) who excavates it will get a happy thought from finding it. Incredibly fun if the demon is a blob that can cause fatal syndromes.
4.Ruins, populated by dwarf zombies , and contain unrepaired workshops, migrant like military dwarves (That automaticly get a good thought if you assist them) along with a magical book that alows a randomly selected dwarf to be able to craft magical weapons. If the book is stolen , the crafter of the weapon rack , the user of the book , and the soldier who wields it will get a very bad thought(Also , this magical crafting only includes a specific weapon , as in no flaming swords for a laser crafter , even though it's aready fun.)
They aren't really secrets but more of just suggestions to use that are somewhat  related to secrets.

[Xelanthol]

All lovely ideas!

The one thing I can say after mulling the subject over, is the more procedurally generated content the better. I don't want alot of set-in-stone secrets, that once found give you x benefit. I like the feeling of finding something new, not just grinding fortress after fortress grabbing the same secrets over and over.

I'd like secrets to have good and bads, sometimes lots of good, sometimes all bad, sometimes mix of both.

One fort, find a secret of immortality for all your dwarves. However unbeknownst to your dwarves, it causes eventual blindness.

Another fort, find the ability to raise flaming undead, or freezing undead, or whatever you know.

The more procedurally generated content there is, the more I will flap my gums about this game and try to get more interest generated. I mean yesterday, I had a giant three tailed chameleon with external ribs, who sent out gushing waves of boiling AND freezing extract! First it caused drowsiness, leading to paralysis, and then suffocation. I lost 129 dwarves (well 90, but then I get a seige right after), but I didn't give a shit. It was awesome watching my dwarves fight as hard as they can.

Man I love DF.

[HoffaSaurusX]

I'd love to unlearn what I knew about DF and then the secrets would be the 'simple' things like smelting, steel and strand extraction

I'd see dwarves starting off with copper and bronze equipment, then trading with a human caravan and they have a strange slab or canvas which reads 'Blast Furnace Instruction' and suddenly you can make a new metal which is lighter than that clunky wrought iron you've had lying around, using for construction, and is stronger than the bronze you've made. And its a game changer, because now your dwarves are stronger, so you can expand more because your dwarves are armored to fight off bigger threats.

Slightly expanding the simple mining elements with secrets like this, as well as turning saltpeter into gunpowder and such would be amazing.

Imagine in one world you gen, dwarves never discover steel, but discover gunpowder and in their bronze armor blow up the other races. Then in the next world you gen, you harness steel, but no one discovers gunpowder, so you have powerful armies with high quality armor, and no one can stop you

And then in a third, both are discovered, but your dwarves are blown to pieces by humans who got to gunpowder first!!!

On the topic of this, can anyone link me to that mod that expanded metal working adn included blast furnaces? I want to tinker with it myself now, and make a 'real world' metals mod now...

[Fen]

I'd actually like to see dwarves discovering secrets on their own by chance when they hit legendary skill.

For example, a miner has a chance upon getting Legendary skill to learn a secret that can mine tiles of stone/ore/gems/whatever that are adjacent to the one they're mining, or automatically have mined walls be smooth. Obviously the former would have to be restricted to the z-level it's on and not tiles that aren't designated.

Or a secret called, say, Readiness. Allows a dwarven crafter to make whatever their craft is on the spot, without needing to go to a workshop, just needing to have the materials.

Also, migrants with secrets would be a cool thing to occur rarely. Obviously small secrets, rather than a necromancer peasant showing up on your doorstep one day.

[CriticallyAshamed]

How about randomly generated weapons as secrets? Make the weapons properties generated the same as bogeymen or FBs. Particularly with that mood giving permanent manufacture knowledge thing. Say some dwarf goes into a mood, recluses into his forge for a bit and comes back with some completely ridiculous weapon? The interesting part with this is you might get stuff that's hugely impractical (double ended copper warhammer ftw!) or maybe they'll make some exotic killing machine that becomes your new trademark weapon.

[Kurskovich]

Like the idea of civs learning/teaching/stealing basic techs in world gen, It would give some meaning to what parent civ you choose and when you stop world gen. but I feel that more mythic secrets like the ability to craft russian wargear should be limited to rare historical figures. I dont want Urist McNoviceCraftsdwarf to mood and make an artifact AK-47 thus allowing me to turn my fortress into a T-42 assembly line. Instead I want My king to arrive and turn out to be J Stalin, so I can preform these actions.

[TapeNoot]

Despite having popped the contents of multiple dwarven bowels a flare into the circus, I'd like to see said circus have more interesting, unknown stuff.

Like, procedurally generated megaclowns that wander in off the sides of the map like forgotten beasts, a special type of ore/stone specific to the circus that is actually collectable and usable in crafting, smithing etc.

Better yet, patches of mineable stone in the circus, allowing you tunnel underneath into something far, far more entertaining.

Basically, some reason to actually get down there, rather than collecting cotton candy.

Just a thought

[Darion]

Alchemy that's actually working. (Without the need of mods.)
Perhaps the dungeon master noble will be a secret?
Altars on which one can actually communicate with the gods? (And they would in return require sacrifices of some kind? (Wealth, food, crafts, animals, or even sentient creatures?Hippies!))

Most likely, mining and crafting things of Adamantine would become a secret.
Or.. Slade! 

I saw this on the first page, and fixed...

[GreatWyrmGold]

Hm...Magical crossbreeding secret?
Requires a special workshop--maybe a ginormous corridor that two flaming spheres with the progenitors in them that hurtle toward each other, maybe three mystic circles, maybe mirrors; reagents would be charcoal and magical spices, or crushed gemstones, or a pane of crystal glass, or something; the created creature is a hybrid of the progenitors' bodies and abilities.
Procedurally generated hybrids sound awesome. Especially if one progenitor is a dwarf...

Since I can't help but make the joke, considering the topic...

In 2011, GreatWyrmGold the Human learned the secret of Necromancy.

12 days is not necromancy.

[caknuck]

Although much more mundane, I'd like to see secrets that improve the efficiency and/or output of your workers. Felling a tree may yield two logs instead of one. Mining a gem tile produces 2-4 gems. Butchering a chicken results in usable skin and bones.

[iyaerP]

I would like a "secret" where if you quantum stockpile enough pitchblende into one spot and then atom-smash it with a drawbridge, it will destroy your entire embark site killing everyong and everything for miles around, and carve a giant hole into the earth with the HFS exposed to the air.

Dwarven nukes. Good "fuck the world cuz the fort is about to die anyway" lever.